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Just as was talked about with the Welch Medical Library we heard yesterday is having to cut 80% of their print collection. In 2008, Savannah averaged 1 print book an hour was checked out

It’s popular with our target audience. Many of our medical students are on facebook, as well as undergrad college students who might be interested in going to medical school. Easy way to keep the library visible by having a virtual presence. A mini poll of the students indicated that over 90% already had Facebook accounts.

I contacted our director of web management to see if there were any particular procedures that we needed to follow if there were things we couldn’t post, etc. and he said that there were currently no limitations to what we could post on Facebook (but I’m sure that will probably change  but, he did want us to invite him to join our page in Facebook so he could see how we were utilitizing it. We chose to create a page because that is what Facebook prefers that you do. Businesses or academic institutions should create a page. An individual user creates a profile and a group is usually used for special interests for example those interested in photography would create a group for photography. 3 different categories in Facebook – there is a personal profile, a page or a group. Personal profiles can only be created for individuals – they can’t be used to promote a library, business, band, celebrity, etc. Facebook pages are used for promotion of organizations and individuals, etc. So if you have your own personal profile on Facebook then you have “friends” if you have a Facebook page then your page has “fans”. Groups are created to discuss a particular topic – not to necessarily promote someone or something – it’s more like a discussion list. We just started our page in March 2009. Right now we’re posting any special holiday hours – any special events that we might have – like National Library Week or the book sale, new library resources, etc. Right now, over half of the students are fans and over 90 percent have indicated that they visit the libraries Facebook pages at least once a week.

Small handouts with our facebook url - since I already have a personal profile – I was able to suggest this page to my friends. A link to the libraries’ tools and apps was prominently displayed in the header of the libraries’ web page. We usually post maybe once a week and it takes 5 minutes or less. Pics are very easy to upload as well.

We created a shortened URL of our page on Facebook using http://tinyurl.com .

Students were using other toolbars, such as google and yahoo, to locate medical information Students felt that finding library resources was confusing and time consuming. There is more than one place to look for information, so we wanted to provide a one-stop shop to search for our resources. Just as John Slack mentioned yesterday, our students don’t search our catalog for our resources. Since we have multiple resources, We created a customized library toolbar.

We chose the conduit toolbar. It’s free to use. Part of the revenue earned by the search engine, for example Google, is shared with Conduit

Here is an illustration of how easy it is to add your custom search. You copy the URL of the search engine you want to add and then name the new custom search. We can also upload an icon if we want. Here is the icon that students click on to download the toolbar. We can just point our users to the url where our customized toolbar resides on the Counduit site and they download it from there.

A link can be made to the libraries’ home page so that users can always find the libraries’ web page wherever they are on the web. Users can search the libraries’ resources from the toolbar. They can highlight a term on a Web page or type it into the search box to begin a search. We can also provide links to additional features such as RSS feeds, weather, radio stations and email notifier. To date, about half of our students have downloaded the toolbar.

We needed to connect our resources with the students’ smartphones.

We added this list to our website and then we created very basic mobile content to allow users to access wireless mobile resources from one page on their smartphones. Access Medicine – etextbooks in clinical and basic science CDC Mobile – CDC health information DIRLINE – Directory of organizations and other resources in health and biomedicine Epocrates – Drugg monographs, indications, interactions and adverse reactions EEP – Evidence Based Point of Care information FDAble – Search several FDA databases at once.

A person with beginning-level coding skills can create simple content that will translate into a mobile library application. Our simple mobile webpage highlights both free and subscribed resources, as well as basic library information such as links to the catalog, library hours, contact information, and a map to library locations.

A variety of smartphones and other PDAs exist. We can’t afford to buy the latest smartphone. Fortunately some free tools are available which allow you to see what our newly-mobilized webpage looks like. One online emulator we often used was: Webredevelopments Another tool we used was Opera. It has a small-screen, mobile versions of webpages:

Such scripts have proven useful for content requiring username sign-on The username and password are protected, but still allow one-click access for an e-resources.

The web applications run on open-source software: PHP, MYSQL, Apache, Fedora Linux. To date over 50 percent of our students are using the libraries’ mobile web page. Using include statements allowed us to consolidate updating our hours, easily providing mobile version with very little code For resources which are not counter compliant, This is an easy way to gather free statistics. Preparing our resources with a small redirect script allows us to determine which library e-resources are being used.

In order to make all of our newly generated library tools and apps easily available to our customers, we created a page that links directly from the libraries’ web page and that has all of our tools and apps in one place.

By converting as much of our core content as possible from print to online and by bringing resources to our customers utilizing web 2.0 tools, we increased usage of our resources by tenfold. The use of reference services doubled because our customers became aware of the resources the libraries had to offer and were able to contact the libraries via familiar social networking interfaces.

2.
BackgroundBackground
Mercer University School of MedicineMercer University School of Medicine
(MUSM)(MUSM)

Founded in 1982 in Macon, GeorgiaFounded in 1982 in Macon, Georgia

Mission to serve rural and underserved areas ofMission to serve rural and underserved areas of
GeorgiaGeorgia
Savannah campusSavannah campus

In 1996, MUSM formed clinical relationship withIn 1996, MUSM formed clinical relationship with
Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC)Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC)

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the GA. GeneralIn the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the GA. General
Assembly allocated funds to expand the MDAssembly allocated funds to expand the MD
program to Savannah using same curriculum asprogram to Savannah using same curriculum as
MaconMacon

3.
Background cont’dBackground cont’d
MUSM Medical Libraries serve theMUSM Medical Libraries serve the
medical school in Macon and Savannahmedical school in Macon and Savannah
Macon campus LibraryMacon campus Library

Also supports masters program in PublicAlso supports masters program in Public
Health, Family Therapy and Nurse AnesthesiaHealth, Family Therapy and Nurse Anesthesia
Savannah campus LibrarySavannah campus Library

Also supports MUMC, including the mainAlso supports MUMC, including the main
hospital, a pediatrics hospital, a cancerhospital, a pediatrics hospital, a cancer
institute, and a biomedical research facilityinstitute, and a biomedical research facility

4.
Bringing Collections to PatronsBringing Collections to Patrons
In 2008, potential users increased by 300In 2008, potential users increased by 300
percentpercent
Print book circulation only increased by 28Print book circulation only increased by 28
percentpercent
We needed to find a way to bring ourWe needed to find a way to bring our
collections to our patronscollections to our patrons

Providing more core content in electronic formatProviding more core content in electronic format

Letting our users know of the resourcesLetting our users know of the resources
available to them 24/7 via computers, PDAs,available to them 24/7 via computers, PDAs,
and/or smartphonesand/or smartphones

7.
How to AdvertiseHow to Advertise
Email to medical school distribution listsEmail to medical school distribution lists
Signs and handouts postedSigns and handouts posted
Suggest to friendsSuggest to friends

9.
Library ToolbarLibrary Toolbar
Students were using other toolbars to locateStudents were using other toolbars to locate
medical informationmedical information
We wanted to provide our students a one-stopWe wanted to provide our students a one-stop
shop to search for our resourcesshop to search for our resources
Customized Library ToolbarCustomized Library Toolbar

Cost effectiveCost effective

Easy to maintainEasy to maintain

Easy for users to useEasy for users to use

Provide relevant resultsProvide relevant results

Search a variety of subscribed and freeSearch a variety of subscribed and free
resourcesresources

Provide the ability to create customizedProvide the ability to create customized

10.
Conduit ToolbarConduit Toolbar
www.conduit.comwww.conduit.com
It’s free to useIt’s free to use
Part of the revenue earned by the searchPart of the revenue earned by the search
engine is shared with Conduitengine is shared with Conduit
Interface for creating and maintaining theInterface for creating and maintaining the
toolbar is easy to understandtoolbar is easy to understand
Interface resides on the conduit site, so ourInterface resides on the conduit site, so our
IT dept. doesn’t have to spend time orIT dept. doesn’t have to spend time or
resourcesresources
Create our own graphics and icons or we canCreate our own graphics and icons or we can
use what conduit providesuse what conduit provides

13.
Mobile Library AppsMobile Library Apps
There are over a dozen resources in ourThere are over a dozen resources in our
collection that are available forcollection that are available for
smartphones.smartphones.
Over 95 percent of our students haveOver 95 percent of our students have
smartphonessmartphones
We created a list of handheld accessibleWe created a list of handheld accessible
programsprograms

17.
Accessing Mobile ResourcesAccessing Mobile Resources
Some of our resources are filtered throughSome of our resources are filtered through
a proxya proxy
For others, a small php interface wasFor others, a small php interface was
createdcreated

Less than 70 lines of script were neededLess than 70 lines of script were needed

Tracks usage for both free and subscribedTracks usage for both free and subscribed
contentcontent

/cgibin/log_use.php?/cgibin/log_use.php?
LNK=LNK=https://home.mdconsult.com/start_sessiohttps://home.mdconsult.com/start_sessio
n?n?
autologin=true&amp;user=autologin=true&amp;user=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&amp;&amp;
password=password=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&amp;targeturl=/das/pat&amp;targeturl=/das/pat

21.
Audience ParticipationAudience Participation
QuestionsQuestions
Has your library used Facebook, toolbars,Has your library used Facebook, toolbars,
or a mobile webpage to market youror a mobile webpage to market your
library’s services or collections?library’s services or collections?
Has your library used other Web 2.0 toolsHas your library used other Web 2.0 tools
to market your library’s services orto market your library’s services or
collections?collections?
What do you see as tools of the future thatWhat do you see as tools of the future that
will be used by libraries to market librarywill be used by libraries to market library
services and collections?services and collections?